Serbia Agreement and foreign pension information 106-24011225

In Serbia, national legislation requires the compulsory payment of social security contributions. The pension insurance covers most workers and the self-employed.

Contributions insure individuals against disability and death and provides for income in the form of a pension once the person reaches retirement age. Minimum and maximum pensions apply as well as a social welfare scheme for those with low income. Separate legislation covers unemployment and health insurance and family and maternity benefits.

The legislation is the responsibility of the Serbian Government but administration and payment of pensions is the responsibility of the central pension insurance institute.

The Agreement with Serbia started 1 February 2024. There are no previous versions,

For Australia

Department of Social Services (DSS)

For Serbia

Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs - Министарство за рад, запошљавање, борачка и социјална питања/ Ministarstvo za rad, zapošljavanjе, boračka i socijalna pitanja

For Australia

Services Australia

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for anything relating to double coverage. See Double coverage/taxation and healthcare.

For Serbia

Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance -

Републичког фонда за пензијско и инвалидско осигурање/ Republički fond za penzijsko i invalidsko osiguranje (PIO)

For Australia

International Services (CIS)

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for anything relating to double coverage. See Double coverage/taxation and healthcare.

For Serbia

The Institute for Social Insurance -

Завод за социјално осигурање / Zavod za socijalno osiguranje (ZSO).

Under the Agreement with Serbia, information held about customers may be exchanged between the liaison agencies to determine entitlement to payments under the Agreement and under either country's domestic legislation (Article 18.1).

For more information on bulk data exchange, see International Data Exchange Program and auto-indexation of foreign pensions.

The following liaison form is completed by Centrelink International Services (CIS) and sent to Serbia:

• AUS187RS – Social Security Agreement between Australia and Republic of Serbia

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

This liaison form is completed by Serbia and sent to International Services (CIS).

Liaison Form (ОБРАЗАЦ ЗА ВЕЗУ) - SRB/AUS 001

• Reference numbers:
• Serbian Citizen’s Registration Number
• Personal number of the insured person (from workbook)
• Centrelink Customer Reference Number
• Section 1 - Insured: provides information about the contributor
• Section 2 - Applicant: provides information about the claimant
• Section 3 - Purpose: specifies whether requesting or providing information, including transmission of claims
• Section 4 - Information provided by Serbia: provides confirmation of Serbian information including insurance periods and Serbian pension details
• Section 5 - Information required from Australia: specifies the Australian information required by Serbia
• Closing section: certification by the Serbian competent institution

Certificate of Periods of Insurance (ПОТВРДА О ПЕРИОДИМА ОСИГУРАЊА) – SRB/AUS 5

• Reference numbers:
• Serbian Citizen’s Registration Number
• Personal number of the insured person (from workbook)
• Centrelink Customer Reference Number
• Section 1 – provides personal information about the contributor
• Section 2 - provides periods of insurance

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Australia will arrange for an agreed report to be and sent with claims for invalidity pensions.

Medical examinations may also be undertaken upon request for foreign pension claim purpose. Generally, the liaison agency will contact Services Australia with the request. There is no provision for reimbursement of costs to either country.

The customer should contact Services Australia if they receive a direct request from the liaison agency to undertake a medical examination. Tell the customer to undertake Services Australia’s foreign pension medical assessment process. Where the customer has already undertaken a medical examination based on a direct request from the Agreement partner without consulting Services Australia, the customer should contact the liaison agency to discuss any possible reimbursement options.

If a customer is claiming reimbursement of costs based on undertaking a medical examination requested by Services Australia for foreign pension purpose, consider all evidence provided. For example, if incorrect advice was provided to the customer by Services Australia that caused them to seek an independent medical examination which caused the customer to be out of pocket

See Customer compensation and Act of Grace.

Direct any enquiries about double coverage or certificates of coverage to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website.

The Agreement with Serbia includes double coverage provisions. See Double coverage/certificates of coverage information in International Social Security Agreements.

Direct any queries about taxation of pensions or the requirement to lodge a tax return to:

• In the other country - the tax authority in the other country directly
• In Australia - the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website

For general information on taxation, including issuing Australian Payment Summaries, see the Taxation information in International Social Security Agreements.

Tax treaty

Australia does not have a double tax agreement with Serbia.

Tax deductions

Serbian pensions over a certain level may be taxed (порез/porez).

The gross rate of Serbian pension (before any deduction) is maintained.

Serbian tax year

Serbia generally uses the calendar year (1 Jan - 31 Dec) as the tax year.

Australia does not have a reciprocal health agreement with Serbia.

For general information on health insurance and Medicare coverage, see Health insurance/Medicare information in International Social Security Agreements.

Any queries about:

• Health Insurance coverage in the other country - direct the customer to contact the health insurance authority in the other country, and
• Medicare coverage - direct to Medicare, see Medicare Consumers Program Support - Medicare Consumers Section - Medicare Branch

Pensioners in Serbia usually have a health insurance deduction taken out of their Serbian pension.

The gross rate of Serbia pension (before any deduction) is maintained.

The official language of Serbia is Serbian. In recent times, the Latin alphabet has become increasingly popular in Serbia and customers are more likely to use this. However, officially Serbian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

See Serbian naming convention and pronunciation.

Telephone country code is +381.

Street address:

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Balkanska 31 5A [street name and number, sub-number, apartment number (or PO box number)]

21000 Novi Sad [Postal code, town post office]

400705 [PAK]

Serbia

Rural address:

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Grabovci [name of village or settlement]

22400 Ruma [Postal code and town or destination post office]

334209 [PAK]

Serbia

Note:

• Postal codes are keyed under the locality and are 6 digits long.
• PAK is a postal address code that also consists of 6 digits. The PAK precisely identifies the delivery location. This code is optional; only record a PAK if the customer provides it

There is no official recognition of same-sex marriages in Serbia.

For Australia, the Agreement with Serbia (Article 2.1) covers:

• Age Pension

Claims for Australian payments under agreements use the same methods and processes as domestic claims. See Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements.

Forms to claim an Australian payment in Serbia can be obtained by:

• downloading the relevant form from the Services Australia website. See Resources.
• contacting Centrelink International Services (CIS).
• contacting the Serbian authorities.

Australian forms needed

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

All claims:

• AUS140RS - Australian pension claim – Social Security Agreement with between Australia and Serbia
• Mod(iA)RS - Income and assets - Serbia

Forms can be lodged at any Serbian social security office.

Under Section 7 of the Administrative Arrangement, the Serbian liaison agency will:

• accept all forms/documents and date stamp the AUS140 form
• verify the customer’s identity and personal details, and
• send the form(s) and any supporting documentation to Services Australia with a liaison form specifying periods of coverage in Serbia and information regarding Serbian pensions

See Exchange of Information and liaison forms.

If a person is not an Australian resident and in Australia on the date the claim is made, they may use the Agreement to meet the residence rules for claims if, on that date, they are:

• an Australian resident, a resident of Serbia (Article 11), and
• physically present in Australia or Serbia (Article 11)

The normal rules for working out the date a claim is ‘made’ and the start day apply to claims under the Agreement with Serbia. However, the Agreement allows:

• the date of lodgement of a claim for an Australian payment in Serbia to be used as the date of lodgement in Australia (Article 16.2)

Note: the date of lodgement of a claim for a Serbian pension cannot be taken to be the date of lodgement for an Australian payment (there is no FP claim = AU claim provision in the Serbian Agreement).

See Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements and Start Day (CLK) for keying help.

The Agreement allows:

• totalisation of periods of qualifying Australian residence and Serbian periods of coverage to meet any minimum periods to qualify for an Australian pension, for example, 10 years for Age Pension (Article 12.1)
• the total of any non-continuous Serbian periods of coverage to be considered to be continuous to meet any continuous residence requirement to claim an Australian pension (Article 12.2)

Notes:

• Overlapping Australian residence and Serbian periods of coverage are only counted once (Article 12.3)
• Policy advice is that adjoining periods of Australian qualifying residence and Serbian periods of coverage, with a break of up to 3 months in between, can also be considered to be continuous

See the Resources page in International Social Security Agreements for examples of totalisation.

A Serbian period of coverage means a period of insurance, for example, a period during which contributions were paid, or any equivalent period, as defined in the Serbian legislation. Equivalent periods may include deemed periods, such as for child rearing or military service. Both actual periods and deemed periods may be used when totalising for Australian qualification purposes, as long as they are certified and don’t overlap.

Serbian periods of coverage must be certified by the Serbian Competent Institution.

To be able to use the totalisation provisions, a person must have at least 12 months Australian Working Life Residence (WLR) in Australia. Six months of which must be continuous (Article 12.4).

This provision applies to both a person who is an Australian resident or a resident of Serbia (Article 12.4).

Note: unlike WLR for rate, this period cannot be rounded.

Unlike most other agreements, the Agreement with Serbia (Article 13(1)) refers to the Australian legislation to decide the income assessed and the maximum rate that is used in the rate calculation but specifies the proportion to be used and excludes additional child amounts (Article 13(6)).

This means customers paid under the Agreement have:

• a proportional rate paid according to their Australian Working Life Residence (WLR),
• the Rate Limiter/Limited Rate applied.

The Serbian Agreement does not include the proportionalisation of any Serbian pension in the income test (Randisi concession).

The proportion is the customer's WLR (to a maximum of 540 months) divided by 540.

Returns to Australia

The proportional rate continues to apply for the first 26 weeks of a temporary return to Australia (Article 13(2)).

Customers in Australia under the Agreement are paid a direct deduction rate (Article 13.3).

The Agreement does not include a Comparison Rate in Australia.

Departures from Australia

The Agreement with Serbia allows the direct deduction rate to continue for a temporary departure from Australia however it is linked to the autonomous non-proportional period (Article 13(4)).

This means the inside Australia rate:

• continues to be paid for the first 26 weeks of a temporary departure from Australia
• can continue to be paid beyond 26 weeks if the customer is unable to return to Australia for a valid discretionary portability extension reason. See Discretion to extend portability period

Payments under the Agreement

Under the Agreement, provided the customer remains qualified, Australian payments are payable indefinitely in both countries, that is, for temporary or permanent absences (Article 5.1).

Third country portability

There is no portability for a departure to a third country for a customer paid under the Agreement.

If necessary, a customer who receives an autonomous payment that stops being payable because of portability reasons, can transfer to the Agreement to continue payment, if:

• the payment is covered by the Agreement, and
• the customer is able to meet the lodgement provisions of the Agreement. See Lodgement rules and start day

If transferred to the Agreement, all Agreement rules apply to the customer, including portability and rate. See Portability and Rate calculation.

See Transfers to international social security agreements.

A person who has sufficient Australian qualifying residence (or an exemption) can only transfer from the Agreement to autonomous if they are an Australian resident and in Australia.

On return to Australia, system processing will automatically transfer from the Agreement to autonomous if the person is an Australian resident who has only used the Agreement to extend their portability while outside Australia.

Former resident provisions may affect customers who transfer to autonomous if they leave Australia again within 2 years of becoming an Australian resident.

Australian payments may be issued to customers outside of Australia. If the customer intends to be outside of Australia:

• long term (12 months or longer), their Australian payment may be issued to an overseas bank account. See Overseas Bank Account Details (OBAD) for payment requirements by country
• for less than 12 months, payment will generally continue to their normal Australian bank account every 2 weeks. See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia

For Serbia, the Agreement covers the pension and disability insurance legislation.

Main payment(s)

• Старосна пензија/Starosna penzija - Old Age Pension (AGE):
• Превремена старосна пензија/Prevremena starosna penzija – Early Old Age Pension
• Инвалидска пензија/Invalidska penzija - Disability Pension (INV)
• Породична пензија/Porodična penzija - Survivor Pension (SUR)

The following known payments are paid by the Serbian authorities but are not covered under the Agreement:

• Накнада за телесно оштећење/Naknada za telesno oštećenje - Compensation for physical damage
• Накнада за помоћ и негу другог лица/Naknada za pomoć i negu drugog lica – Care and assistance allowance
• Накнада за погребне трошкове/Naknada za pogrebne troškove - Funeral expense allowance
• Привремене накнаде – инвалидима рада друге и треће категорије инвалидности/Privremene naknade – invalidima rada druge i treće kategorije invalidnosti – Early allowance for invalidity recipients with 2nd or 3rd category invalidity

The requirement to claim Serbian pensions applies to Serbian AGE and INV.

Customers may voluntarily claim SUR using the SUR claim pack. See Claim forms and processes.

The Eligibility and coding of foreign pensions tab contains detailed information on Serbian payments that are subject to CFP legislation.

Claim packs are available for AGE, INV and SUR.

Claim packs are issued through the Foreign Pension System (FPS). See Table 1 > Step 2 in Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.

Specific requirements for Serbian claims

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

All claims:

• proof of birth (birth certificate or personal ID card)
• certified photocopy of workbook (if unavailable, provide a statement to that effect)
• evidence of insurance periods
• proof of cessation of employment

AGE only:

• CLAIM FOR OLD AGE PENSION / EARLY OLD AGE PENSION - ЗАХТЕВ ЗА СТАРОСНУ / ПРЕВРЕМЕНУ СТАРОСНУ ПЕНЗИЈУ (SRB/AUS 2)

INV only:

• CLAIM FOR DISABILITY PENSION - ЗАХТЕВ ЗА ИНВАЛИДСКУ ПЕНЗИЈУ (SRB/AUS 3)

SUR only:

• CLAIM FOR SURVIVOR’S PENSION - ЗАХТЕВ ЗА ПОРОДИЧНУ ПЕНЗИЈУ (SRB/AUS 4)
• Marriage certificate, proof of common-law marriage (court decision)

Requests for Additional Information

If information provided with the claim for Serbian pension is incomplete, Serbia will send requests for information in Serbian direct to customers.

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Serbian forms can be lodged in Australia at any service centre. See Processing a foreign pension claim.

• All foreign pension claims and supporting documentation must be scanned, and
• The original foreign claim form and (copies of) supporting documentation must be sent in paper form to Centrelink International Services (CIS). See Processing a foreign pension claim

Centrelink International Services (CIS) only

CIS will complete the following, or arrange for it to be completed, and attach to the foreign pension claim to send to the agreement country. See Agreement Liaison Detail (ALD) for method of transmission.

All claims:

• AUS187RS - Australia/Serbia Agreement on Social Security

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

INV only:

• ЛЕКАРСКИ ИЗВЕШТАЈ - Medical Report (SRB/AUS 3A). See Foreign pension medical assessments
• Copy of existing Australian medical information

Direct enquiries about claims for Serbian payments in Serbia or a third country to the Serbian social security authorities.

Serbian payments can be made in Australia by direct deposit.

Direct any queries about the non-payment of Serbian pension to the Serbian pension authorities.

Agreement pensions are paid as 12 regular monthly payments.

Key as Frequency: ‘MTH’.

Other benefits or private pensions are paid either monthly or annually and keyed as Frequency: ‘MTH’ or ‘ANN’.

Serbian Payments must be recorded in source currency - Serbian Dinar (RSD). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Note: do not change amounts recorded in source currency on the Foreign Pension Details (FPD) screen to the Australian dollar amount.

Agreement pension (AGE/INV/SUR) amounts are generally:

• directly deducted and ignored in the income test (Section 8(8)(zc) Social Security Act 1991) for customers under the Serbian Agreement who are in Australia
• ordinary income (not proportionalised) for:
• customers under the Serbian Agreement who are outside Australia
• autonomous customers who are inside or outside Australia
• customers under an agreement other than Serbia or NZ who are inside or outside Australia

See Rate Calculation rules for when a direct deduction or proportional rate is applied.

Each member of a couple is deemed to receive half of the total amount received by the couple (Article 13(5)).

There are no exempt Serbian payments under the Agreement with Serbia. See International Social Security Agreements.

The following payments are not covered by the Agreement and are assessed as ordinary income:

• Накнада за телесно оштећење/Naknada za telesno oštećenje - Compensation for physical damage
• A benefit paid to a person who has been found to have a physical impairment of at least 30%, which occurred as a result of an injury at work or an occupational disease
• Накнада за помоћ и негу другог лица/Naknada za pomoć i negu drugog lica - Care and assistance allowance
• May be paid to a person who needs help with basic needs
• The amount of help and care allowance can be a full or partial amount, depending on the needs of the person needing care
• Привремене накнаде – инвалидима рада друге и треће категорије инвалидности/Privremene naknade – invalidima rada druge i treće kategorije invalidnosti – Early allowance for invalidity recipients with 2nd or 3rd category invalidity

The Agreement does not include embargo provisions.

Arrears debts for customers and their partners are raised under s1228A Social Security Act 1991 and recovered via normal methods under the Act. See Comparable Foreign Payment (CFP) lump sum arrears.

A contravention debt may also occur if the customer does not advise of the grant of their Serbian payment within their notification period. See Foreign pension coding.

Life Certificates (Потврда о животу/Potvrda o životu) are issued by Serbia each year in April or May. Customers are required to return the certified form to the relevant Serbian authority by 30 June of that year.

Serbian Life Certificates can be certified by an officer of Services Australia.

Certificates can also be verified by the Serbian embassy and consulate, notaries (Justice of the Peace and similar), court appointed translators and any other similar authorised authority/organisation.

For general information about helping customers with life certificates, see Assisting customers to maintain an existing foreign pension.

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